48
Enclosure
16.
- 10.
A table is attached showing the revenue,
expenditure and Military Contribution for each year from 1921 to 1937. Separate figures are given for the Military
Contribution actually paid during each year and the amount payable in respect of the year; and sterling equivalents of the latter figures have been added. The sterling equivalents for 1922 to 1935 are those officially accepted. by the War Office, while those for 1921, 1936 and 1937 are estimated; but all these equivalents are approximate only since there have frequently been large fluctuations in the value of the dollar during any given year and
between the year in respect of which ontribution was
calculated and the year in which it was paid.
This sum
17. Taking these figures into account I suggest that the contribution be fixed at $6,000,000. exceeds the amount (in dollars) paid in respect of any
previous year. The amount payable in respect of the current year may be higher than $6,000,000 owing to the exceptional revenue which is now being received but a similar revenue cannot be counted upon for the future. I consider it in the Colony's interests, however, to offer a generous sum in order to secure a settlement of this question on a more equitable and practical basis. The amount is expressed in dollars because the Colony's revenue is expressed in that currency and payment is in fact made locally; but I recognize that His lajesty's Government may wish to have some safeguard against the contingency of a serious decline in the value of the Hong Kong dollar which al though now under Government control is not formally stabilized. I suggest, therefore, that if in any year the sterling value of the suggested
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